The challenge is officially over. Last I checked, the second day has less complaints on the official facebook page.
After all these hype, I somehow feel… Empty. As if next weekend wouldn’t be as exciting as this..
Put those bad comments aside – inadequate clean water supply (to some participants, Syabas water wasn’t clean enough), no isotonic drinks, no bananas, dangerous obstacles and etc etc, yes, some obstacles were dangerous, too. But this was what we signed up for. And most of us were able to complete it. Some under three hours, too.
The game was hard. At least hard enough for most of the participants. Our wave was released 1020am on the first day, after some technical delay from first wave in the morning (there was a heavy rain). Even that, it was possible to run past some earlier waves along the game. It is suffice to say that most participants underestimated the game.
The route was filled with element of surprise. Regardless how many times you studied the map, you will still caught off guard. From the smooth tarmac of the race track (can’t help but ran barefoot with my partner, how often do you get to run barefoot on the race track?!), to stone traps along the race track (most tiring part of the running part), into the palm oil estate (mud mud mud), then into worn tarmac, and then back into the palm oil estate.
As far as running part is concern, it is not for runners that too comfortable with tar roads.
As for the obstacles, some were not just physically demanding, but mentally demanding. The big slide was one of those. It is one of those obstacles that you will just have to put your trust into the organizer that it is safe.
First two obstacles were wall climbs. Those were manageable as we were still in early stage of the game.
Third obstacle was the interesting one – ice pool. It was already 11am when my teammate and I reached there. Ice was melting. ‘This should be easy’, we thought. Pace were changed after the short dip. We were screaming, we were shaking, we were jumping and we ran faster (I bet it has something to do with our family jewels hides deeper in our torso, so there is less resistance when running). Then came the tyre jump which is bread and butter of obstacle games, along with wall climbs and monkey bars.
Obstacles were spread out not in every 1KM, every corner could be a potential obstacle.
The hardest of them all though, would be the uphill runs. 13KM in and there are still UPHILLS AND UPHILLS AND UPHILLS AND UPHILLS. The good news is there are also equivalent range of downhill, which makes the game slightly more bearable.
It was a challenge. Period. It is as hard as the participants wants it to be. I will be even more thrill if it push 1 week earlier. I hope this challenge can be a good yard stick for future obstacle games in Asia, in terms of balance between safety and obstacle. (I am looking at you, Reebok One Challenge!)
And I can’t wait its return next year.